The invention relates to the technical field of posture and splinting bands, and also of compression stockings and socks, using for compression an upper or overlapping end, with coatings in contact with the wearer's skin.
In its principle, this concept has been known for many years, in particular for stockings to be secured around the wearer's thigh or calf, according to its purpose.
Numerous patents have been filed by numerous manufacturers with, at the outset, French patent FR 1.540.295, followed by many others.
The use of a silicone coating is thus known for applications to stockings and socks, for normal use, and also for splinting, compression and posture.
The products available on the market have, according to each case, a number of drawbacks related to putting them on and taking them off.
A first drawback resides in the fact that the compression effect on the wearer's member, even in the absence of necking, and because of the contact and the wearer's movements, causes friction and shear effects, which engender unpleasant and ultimately painful irritations. This is due to the texture of the support and to a certain stiffness of the coating.
Even when the skin is not particularly sensitive to chemical or allergenic agents, it risks being irritated by the wearing of a self-adhesive band if the following two or three conditions are combined: bacterial proliferation, friction, maceration.
As to friction, the irritation is mechanical due to the difference in mechanical behaviour between the support and its coating and the skin.
The risk of irritation increases with age (thinner and more fragile skin). It is therefore indispensable to protect the skin of an elderly person because it is regenerated more slowly.
The risk also increases:
with heat, summer in particular, due to sweating;
during intensive physical activity, movement and sweating.
Maceration results from the fragilization of the skin (lower mechanical strength) and the increase in permeability, hence lower resistance to pathogenic agents and chemical irritants. This maceration is caused by a lack of evaporation of the water vapour (perspiration) naturally emitted by the skin, entailing the need for the product to be permeable to water vapour.
Another drawback observed during the wearing of a self-adhesive band is that of the distribution of the hair of the members on which it is to be worn, because this gives rise to friction, and the irritation and discomfort are commensurately greater. The maintenance of the stocking or the band, by an adhesive having a high adhesiveness (such as adhesive plaster), would also make their removal very painful due to the pulling force.
It is based on these findings that the applicant has sought a novel type of self-adhesive band serving to eliminate the friction and to considerably reduce the risk of maceration and hence of skin irritation.
Secondarily, a further goal was to improve the wearer's comfort and the conditions of removal of the self-adhesive band or stocking by reducing the induced effects, particularly of the hair pulling type.
Another approach of the applicant was therefore to improve the wearer's comfort with a lighter product, that is, having a finer visual appearance than the products on the market.
It was therefore necessary to design a novel self-adhesive band offering controlled compression, optimised behaviour, while reducing the various risks and situations promoting skin irritation.
In fact, numerous investigations have been conducted with control tests to improve a variety of particular parameters.
In practice, this type of investigation has not proved conclusive to the best of the applicant's knowledge.